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The Pacman Nebula - (30hrs SHO/RGB)

Mr_42tr0nomy

By Mr_42tr0nomy
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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Mr_42tr0nomy

Mr_42tr0nomy

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Hello!

I hope everyone has been having a great week. I know I have with all of these clear skies... whoduh thought... In fact... I was able to image for 8 nights in a row which is rathe rare for the Cincinnati / tri-state area!

There were good nights and there were bad nights. I spent the first 4 nights collecting Narrowband data on the Pac-Man Nebula. This all went smoothly, and I was able to gather about 30hrs of data which I reduced to about 20 or so (a good guess, I haven't actually checked how much data is included in this photo below). The following 3-4 nights I spent collecting LRGB data as I was curious to see how an LRGB data set of an emission nebula would look from bortle 6/7 skies. I was hoping to grab another 25 hours or so... but alas... I had adjusted my camera settings for my narrowband flats and forgot to change them back to shoot LRGB. I spent the final two nights recollecting my data using the right settings and my goal at this point was to simply grab RGB data for natural star color.

Post processing this dataset was tricky. My sii data suffered from mottling due to the imperfections of the 294mm's sensor. This was a real pain to process out. My ha data looked clean as did my Oiii which was a relief. I managed to collect 8hrs of Sii/Oiii and 14hrs of HA. I was entirely unsure how to approach this data set. I wanted to produce something unique. Something a bit different than my standard SHO colored mages. It started off rough, but I was able to reach a result that I am more than happy with.

I think this is to date, one of my better photos! I spent a lot of time carefully sharpening the incredibly bok globules within NGC 281. This nebula has so much dimension and depth that I felt that not demonstrating this through my image would be sacrilege.

All that being said, I hope you guys enjoy!

Full resolution: https://www.astrobin.com/full/n42jty/D/?mod=&real=
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Equipment:
Sky-Watcher 10" Quattro
asi294mm Pro
iOptron CEM60
Astrodon 3nM ha/oiii/sii/LRGB
Exposure time: 30ish hours
Bortle zone: 6/7

 

 

pacman nebula SHO final 2.jpg

Edited by Mr_42tr0nomy
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Mr_42tr0nomy

Mr_42tr0nomy

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47 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

I can’t believe the detail. One of best images I’ve seen regardless of subject.

Different weather here across the Atlantic. Haven’t had a decent clear spell for some time 

Thank you very much! I dont suspect that I will have a streak like this for some time. Gotta take advantage when they pop up! 

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Mr_42tr0nomy

Mr_42tr0nomy

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23 hours ago, Astro Waves said:

bloody lovely that is!

8 clear nights in a row? I wouldn't know what to do with myself if that happened over here, haha, I'm lucky to get a few hours at most!

 

Not a common occurrence for the midwest, thats for sure 

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Mr_42tr0nomy

Mr_42tr0nomy

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2 hours ago, Allinthehead said:

This image has me looking at this nebula in a totally new light, beautifully done. I like how you didn't completely zap all the green too, it allows some subtle but very pleasing transitions in the colour tones. Detail is spectacular too. 

Thank you very much! I had so much fun processing this one and will likely be the method I use for other data sets. I am always flip flopping about keeping or discarding the green hues in my images.. 9/10 times I just like having them.. otherwise I should have shot a bicolor data set haha. The greens add a whole different dimension.

Cheers!  

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